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Bristol R.I. USA

Anyone else have a worm composter?

1/28/2012 3:05:06 PM

Connecticut

I have a 50 gallon trash can in my basement with some red wigglers and stuff. I did it all wrong. You need more surfaces than depth, but I dug down into it today and found a big bunch more than I put in munching away on the food scraps. Hope for worm castings in the spring. Oh, no smell what so ever.

1/28/2012 4:28:27 PM

Portsmouth, RI

Hi Kenny, I use rubbermaid bins. I have 7 and I have about
400lbs of worm compost for this spring that I harvested this winter. I like the 30 gal. bins the best over my smaller 18 gal bins. There is a lot more surface area for feeding. Bob

1/28/2012 4:54:25 PM

Bristol R.I. USA

Bob how many worms did you start with?

1/28/2012 5:02:29 PM

Madera, CA

Do you drill holes in the bottom? How do you start one? Thanks.

1/28/2012 6:11:38 PM

Omaha, Ne.

ya any kin grower sell worms? I need some contact me.

1/28/2012 8:16:14 PM

Mass

I just built one a week or so ago, had some totes kicking around, I googled worm composters and watched a couple of utube videos of some homemade ones, pretty easy. saved 100 bucks. Bought 1000 red wigglers from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm.
bottom one is solid to collect tea, put some empty tuna cans in bottom to raise next one up a little so it doesn't set in any liqud, 20 or so holes in the bottom of next one, I think 3/16", and smaller air holes all around the top of bin, 1/8", and 20 or so holes in the lid, 1/8", Add another one, when needed and switch lid to it. Worms will come up through holes when they run out of food below..

1/28/2012 8:40:22 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Thanks, sweet1!!! and do you agree w/ snowskier about "no smell what so ever"? Peace, Wayne
PS...How long can the compost liquid (from bottom container) be kept, and used?

1/28/2012 11:39:48 PM

Madera, CA

Looks like the kids and I are going to build on today. I think we might use night crawlers, they do not breed as fast but we can use them for fishing also.

1/29/2012 11:17:48 AM

Portsmouth, RI

I drill 1/8 about holes about 5 inch's apart on the bottom. Then 3/4's up the bin I drll 1/4 holes all the way around about and inch apart. Then 1/4 inch holes in the lid about 5 inch's apart I talked with a lot of pro's and they said if your getting quite a bit of liquid out the bottom, it's too wet. It took about a year to get it right but my castings come out workable right out of the bin. Meaning I can screen them right away without having to let them sit and dry.

1/29/2012 11:23:18 AM

Connecticut

Night crawlers do not work. They die. Red wigglers are the only ones that work well.
The tea that comes out does have some odor if you spill it. I found out the hard way.

1/29/2012 8:05:48 PM

Connecticut

Lobster,, What do you use for bedding ?

1/29/2012 8:07:37 PM

Portsmouth, RI

I have experimented with quite a few differnt beddings. I found screened leaf compost with a bit of well aged cow manure mixed together for the bedding and partily finished compost on top seems to work very good. They take to it right a way and start feeding much quicker. Seems like the better the bedding, the better the finished compost is.

1/30/2012 5:03:42 PM

Mass

Wayne, so far it only smells when you open the lid, I used the smaller holes on the sides and top, Hopefully the worms wont come out through them, and will use the larger ones in the bottom of each layer to migrate upwards when needed. I ran some newspappers through my shreader and used that, did some layers, add some compost then some more shreadings. We will see how it works. There are a few on the sides of the bin, but there are some coffee grounds stuck to the sides all over the place. hopefully if the tea drains into the bottom solid bin, I can just pour it off. Trial and error I guess.

1/30/2012 5:16:34 PM

Mass

I posted some pictures on my diary. My only concern is vs the ones you buy that fit together in layers. When I add another tier or tote, because of the taper and the first one being half full or so. There will be some space around the outside edge where the worms can escape and crawl up the outside of the tote. I supppose i can use something like pipe insullation or weather stripping and block the space around it. ???

1/30/2012 6:50:48 PM

Gays Mills, Wisconsin

Das, nightcrawlers may not be great for composting, but you can raise them and get excellent castings. There is a different technique than what is being discussed here. John

1/30/2012 7:57:53 PM

Connecticut

Cornhusk. What is the tech for night crawlers ?
Mine might not smell because the major food source is coffee grounds. I also put in greens like lettuce...ect, and some fruit scraps, but mostly coffee grounds

1/31/2012 10:36:56 PM

Gays Mills, Wisconsin

look for me at vegas, otherwise send me an email
[email protected]

1/31/2012 11:59:17 PM